why not a Western

[crit9098]

Assuming we're discussing the genre. It's relevant to any SF writer, as Heinlein said. A good SF is only a horse opera in outer space. Same ideals, same themes, different settings. If the protag isn't modestly heroic, he's not much of a hero, is he? An adventure is always an adventure. As a Native American, I like Westerns because (let me say this loudly) MOST WESTERNS ARE ABOUT NATIVE AMERICANS A-VENTURING INTO THE WEST. The original cowboys were Native American and most cowboys are today Native American whether metis, mestizo, gvnakii, or full-blood. We are the West. Not just Lakota or Comanche, but Cherokee, Shawnee, and the Susquehannocks forced from their homes after fighting in the Civil War. Mohawks made up most of the mountainmen until the Cherokee took over. We became ranchers and settlers, townsfolk and the rest.

[crit26833]

When I was a kid, around 19 or so, I plotted out a sci-fi novel about Native Americans winning a futuristic war to take back America from crazy and corrupt Capitalists. They were flying around in anti-gravity chariots; shooting the place up with lasers and occasionally reverting to bows-and-arrows just for a hoot. I think I find the idea even more appealing today.

[crit9098]

We are. But, Native Americans are as much capitalists as anyone else. The Tenocha (Aztec) were using gold to trade with, and in most societies, women owned everything, and women wanted as much as they could get, especially children, and to protect those children (Woman is born to life, man but to die--Any good woman (meaning a widow) can find another man but what is a man with only half a heart (widower). If you've ever experienced a divorce, you've seen Native America in action. Woman gets the house, best car, and et al. Man walks away with his clothes, tools, and something from the bank account. We are capitalists, but follow the korima Law, the sharing of all things in brotherhood.